A Boat Made From Plastic Waste is One of Kenya’s Solutions to a Global Problem | Short Film Showcase
It's no turning back for the government on plastic bags. Following on TV, the penalties are the highest in the world: four years in jail, and the maximum penalty is 38 thousand US dollars. We cannot continue living in this kind of an environment that is so polluted with plastic bags and plastic waste. Something needs to be done.
It's very clear that there are not going to be any arrests this week, as we will familiarize ourselves with a new regulation for next week.
Kenya, before the ban was Nestor. I felt that I should do something; I started complaining. I started writing on why plastic bags should be banned. One day, the cabinet secretary tweeted back; she supported my campaign. Two years later, she banned plastic bags.
We had to set the penalties so high so that we as citizens understand the dangers of these polythene bags and the plastic pollutants. Initially, I lost some customers. My observation is they are touching up; they’re coming with a reusable bag. But it's no more for human beings; they resist change. But in the long run, they adapt.
My end goal is not to see that we don’t have plastic; my goal is to see most sustainable use, and the Second Life of plastic is where we need to begin. We are destroying our own life. Ever you see plastic when you go fishing? We see plastic when you're pulling your nets, catching more plastic than fish.
I had a dream to do something to make people understand the importance of the environment. We are making a beautiful plastic chair, completely made of pure recycled plastic, from the keel to everything. I think it’s the first in this world.
This circular economy philosophy is beginning to get traction here. Innovators have been able to produce beautiful reusable products using plastics, and I’m able to earn some income. We’re very excited about them. When I see plastic, I see color; I see beauty; I see something that I can use to make something. We cannot call those things trash; we just call them recyclables.
Recycling is not totally self-sustainable. People don't realize how much work and cost goes into recovering it from the environment. Somebody has to go pick it up; somebody has to give it to somebody else. The guys in the streets are making a few shillings—the first environmentalists.
Ali designs every piece of the boat. You bring us the shape, and we’re able to build a mold for it. We’re all burnt plastic; we melt, we compress, and let it cool. That’s basically the process. It looks like wood, but it’s not wood. It’s pure plastic.
It's not perfect; we know it. It cracks; it bends, you know, it breaks. But it lasts forever. Construction products create a good end use of plastic, and can we say it will last the life of your shamba, the life of your land?
The first communication of human lives was through the sea. There was no plane; it was only down the dowel that is communication. Our journey is just the beginning of big things to come. To convert waste into something valuable takes that vision; it takes perseverance to do that.
Our plastic chair is a message to the world. We have to tell our young kids the importance of taking care of our environment because they are the leaders tomorrow. It’s better that we involve them and be truthful to the coming generation.